Barracuda-500 Advances In Enterprise Test Vehicle Prototype Project
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The Air Force Armament Directorate (EB) and the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) have selected Anduril’s Barracuda-500 autonomous air vehicle (AAV) to move forward to the next phase of the Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV) prototype project. The ETV program aims to create a highly-producible, modular, and affordable air vehicle that will serve as the baseline architecture for large-scale production of next-generation airborne platforms.
Within seven months of being selected as part of the ETV effort, Anduril optimized the Barracuda-500 design to execute a successful flight test, demonstrating how Barracuda’s simple and modular design - as well as Anduril’s approach and commitment to developing capabilities ahead of a specific customer’s need - facilitates rapid development, testing, and deployment of disruptive capabilities to warfighters.
Over the next phase of the effort, Anduril will demonstrate Barracuda-500’s autonomous teaming capabilities, further prove out the manufacturability of the system, and highlight the modular architecture that enables its adaptability to future mission needs. The goals of ETV - including its emphasis on autonomy, producibility, affordability, modularity, and speed of delivery - are squarely aligned with the design, development, and manufacturing philosophy that underpins Anduril’s Barracuda family of autonomous air vehicles.
Flight Test
Anduril’s selection follows rigorous testing and evaluation of the Barracuda-500 AAV. In September 2024, Anduril executed a successful flight test of Barracuda-500 in close partnership with EB and DIU. The end-to-end flight test was representative of future operational employment of Barracuda-500 and encompassed pre-mission planning, successful vertical launch from a cell designed to emulate palletized employment from air-lift aircraft, autonomous navigation and flight for over 30 minutes, successful capture of a GPS coordinate target identified in Lattice, and autonomous terminal guidance to the target.
Next Steps
Later this year, Anduril will execute a series of flight tests that demonstrate the collaborative autonomous capabilities of Barracuda-500, including simultaneous vertical launch of multiple Barracuda-500 systems, in flight system-to-system communications, and how Lattice for Mission Autonomy enables the execution of novel collaborative autonomous behaviors designed to increase effectiveness in contested environments.
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